Two Englishmen, three clubs

The title of this post is actually a quote from Goring, the leader of the German air force in world war two and it was probably true when he spoke it.The English are tremendously keen on forming associations for vaguely worthy goals. The English are probably no better at inventing games than any other nation but we are tremendously good at creating sports societies and rulebooks. This meant that English sports tended to become popular abroad because of the structure that came with them.The same applies to charities and self improvement societies such as the Youth Hostel Association or housing associations for the working poor. The English tended to create an organised structure for everything that could be duplicated across the world.This voluntary endeavour seemed to reach its peak in the Victorian age when national self confidence was at its peak and the welfare state had not yet been invented. Voluntary associations have been in a steady decline for many decades because it was the governments job to look after us. Unfortunately governments are now going broke all over the world and so this is no longer possible. We may be entering a new age of voluntarism.In fact we cannot reduce the role of the state in our lives unless we take over some of its functions ourselves. This has a double benefit. Firstly, it cuts the politically correct expert class out of the picture. Secondly, it provides a role and status for men who have been marginalised in our society.Our present welfare system has created an artificial division of labour between the creators of wealth and the poor. Welfare is distributed by an unaccountable liberal elite who do not understand the link between work and personal salvation. This was not true of the Victorian philanthropist who actively sought out the 'deserving poor' and it will not be true in the future.In fact the road out of poverty usually involves adopting conservative values (hard work, frugality, faithfulness to ones partner and so on). Future welfare will be tied to these virtues because successful people realise their importance and successful people will administer charity.